Tuesday, April 8, 2014

SPECIAL REPORT - WTF

The news like feces stinks and there's a lot of it being thrown around. Talking Bag is on a news vacation, getting away from it all. Like going to Kansas and calling it a beach vacation. But an escaped lab monkey calling himself simply, "Grandpa," has filed this Special Report:

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The foreign and domestic abuses perpetrated by the U.S. Government as an alleged response to 9/11 have been reported on and complained about for years...many years. Issues that include the rounding up, or rendition, and indefinite detention of prisoners without charge, their torture and sometimes death during interrogation, illegal spying, targeted killings, murder, rape, baseless and brutal warfare have all been highly visible in the news, and have resulted in public protests around the country. Several law suits have been brought before U.S. courts seeking justice for some of these abuses. Even someone who spent the last decade in a coma would be expected to be aware of what's going on.

But we are supposed to believe that the Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee only recently became aware that our military and intelligence forces have been torturing and killing people. Makes me want to fling poo.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Sen. Dianne Feinstein:

"...The resulting staff report was chilling. The interrogations and the conditions of confinement at the CIA detentions sites were far different and far more harsh than the way the CIA had described them to us..."

I stopped laughing at the bad joke that is Sen. Feinstein when I smelled the steaming pile that is Chief Justice Roberts. JOHN is the HEAD of this scatological SCOTUS.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote:

"...Spending large sums of money in connection with elections, but not in connection with an effort to control the exercise of an officeholder's official duties, does not give rise to such quid pro quo corruption. Nor does the possibility that an individual who spends large sums may garner 'influence over or access to' elected officials..."

It seems the Chief Justice would have us believe that money doesn't corrupt politics. Yea, right. It seems to me that since accepting a bribe is just cause to remove a government official, according to The U.S. Constitution, it is important to define bribe so narrowly that the crime ceases to exist. The semantics defense is our government's get out of jail free card, like when someone dies while being interrogated it isn't torture, it is simply enhanced Q&A.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Thursday, February 27, 2014

LOOKS LIKE A GROWTH OF SOME KIND

In a finite system exponential growth cannot be sustained. Unless we realize that less is the only more that makes sense, we are doomed. Killing seems to be the human solution to our resource management problems. I fear a humane solution is beyond us.

Check out the video links below. Even if you want to argue the details, the point is we are consuming a finite resource, the Earth, at an alarming rate.

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

David Gregory’s Meet the Press today hosted a debate between Bill Nye the Science Guy and Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) on whether gravity is just a theory."

Juan Cole's post was very funny. And sad. And scary. Just like clowns! Perhaps the funniest and saddest and scariest part of it was that he had to clearly label it as "satire." It is becoming more and more impossible to tell what is a joke these days.

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Several Internet "journalists" have denounced the "debate" on Climate Change aired on Meet The Press today. As described on the MTP website: "Scientist Bill Nye and Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., discuss the politics of weather emergencies and climate change."

I actually saw this debacle, after suffering through a ridiculous interview with Mitt Romney. If that wasn't vapid propaganda I don't know what is. I try with a usually high degree of success to ignore this show, and after this morning I encourage everyone else to do so from now on. NBC's Meet The Mess is a waste of any rational person's time, unless you are trying to strengthen your mental defenses against torture. If you can watch this show without screaming you are a step closer to beating even more insidious Psyops.

A recurring complaint about the discussion was that Bill Nye isn't a climate scientist. Well, of course it wouldn't have mattered if he were. This is a news show, and like virtually all of them it is more show than news. I respect Bill Nye too much to complain. He's a man who regularly tries to express reasonable ideas to our unreasonable masses. If Meet The Press really wanted to educate their audience and have a one-on-one with Rep. Blackburn, they should have booked Elmo.

P.S. BTW Elmo and his creator are far more worthy of respect than Rep. Blackburn.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Monday, January 13, 2014

WHO NEEDS THE EPA?

"Hundreds of thousands of West Virginia residents are on their fifth day without safe tap water after a chemical spill in the Elk River. The company Freedom Industries leaked up to 7,500 gallons of an agent used in coal extraction on Thursday. Residents have been barred from drinking, cooking or bathing with water from their taps. Scores of schools and businesses have been closed, including in the state capital, Charleston. The head of the West Virginia Water Company told residents to only use water for flushing toilets."

"Environmental inspectors have not visited the Freedom Industries facility behind the West Virginia chemical spill since 1991. Under West Virginia law, chemicals storage facilities are not even subject to inspections. The chemical, known as MCHM, does not receive close federal or state oversight. The plant also had no groundwater protection plan in place."

LORI WALLACH: Basically, there were a combination of factors. These trade agreements, like the TPP, NAFTA 20 years ago, are like the corporate Christmas tree. This is the one piece of "legislation" that every corporate interest loves. It jacks up medicine prices with patent extensions for Big Pharma. Big Content loves it because they’re like SOPA-type copyright rules. The chemical and pharmaceutical companies like it because they have actual rights to not be regulated and inspected. The oil and gas companies love it because it gives them absolute rights to natural resources. The chronic job offshoring companies love it because it gives them new investor protections to offshore. So they all lobbied Congress, squeezed Congress.

But in the end, the reason NAFTA passed was Fast Track, the arcane Nixon-era procedure that allows the executive branch to write legislation, stuffing in all kinds of goodies unrelated to the trade agreement to buy congressional votes, special deals. And then that goes through Congress with no amendments allowed, very quickly, yes-or-no vote.

Thursday, January 9, 2014

We've all experienced the clash of expectations. You look forward to something and it disappoints, or you get surprised by an unanticipated joy. It happens with shows, books, parties, or when you are just hanging out with some redhead.

Any number of factors can influence an experience. Traffic, parking, or the asshole in front of you can destroy an otherwise great concert. Sometimes my favorite beers taste awful, and I can only explain it by assuming variables outside of my control are throwing things off. I certainly can't stay mad at the beer.

Well, expectations may have played a role in my reaction to two Trekker pastiches. I assumed the Hugo Award winning book "Redshirts" would be entertaining, and the ridiculous sounding "Night of the Living Trekkies" would be an awkward lark. It turns out I hated "Redshirts." I thought it was a bad idea poorly executed. Having reached with relief the end of the story, I was horrified to discover that a self-indulgent "Coda" was appended. Actually three of them. Short pieces related to the story from completely different points of view. The first coda was so annoying that I had to put the book down and debate whether to finish it. I did, but do not recommend anyone else do so.

On the other hand, "Night of the Living Trekkies" far exceeded my expectations. I didn't want to put it down. I thought it was a brilliantly executed piece of genre fiction. The story held together far better than the pathetic conceit of "Redshirts," and frankly I thought the writing was superior. It maintained a perfect balance between satire and a celebration of science fiction. It was genuinely funny and the story flowed in a natural and compelling way. I thought John Scalzi might deliver another "Galaxy Quest," but it took Kevin David Anderson and Sam Stall to pull it off. The author Scalzi may have more genre credibility than the authors of the zombie book, and his metafictional Trek rip off may have hidden depths, but when an onion is rotten why bother peeling it?

My only question is when will "Night of the Living Trekkies" hit a theater near me?